rblion

I currently live in a converted mail truck on the island of Kauai. I have everything I need and nothing I don't.

I feel like a warrior-monk every day as I do my morning practice (meditation, breathwork, mantra, reading while absorbing sunlight by the beach).

I feel like a 'starving artist' as I budget for healthy meals and fast at least 12 hours a day. I feel very healthy though, it's odd. I used to think I need a lot more food but really I just need high quality food.

I feel like an engineer/architect as I reverse engineer my vision of the future into very clear blueprints and schematics.

All together, I operate like a general leading an army of early adopters and gaining the support of smarter and experienced allies who have done the things I want to do in life.

I have been rejected from YC twice, once in 2017 when I was 17 and last May but I see why and it has not discouraged me. Not one bit. It only motivated me to learn more and love myself more for not giving up, being open to trying new approaches.

I'd love to hear your 'origin stories' that looked crazy to everyone else and how they ultimately shaped you into who are you today.

MAHALO :)

I've been sprinting 10-16 hours a day for almost a month now. I feel cool, calm, and collected though.

A lot is happening in the world and in our industry but I am doing all I can to be part of the cure, not the cancer.

This gives me peace of mind and helps me adapt regardless of if YC backs me or not. I'm moving to Palo Alto regardless, just being in the zip code alone will be enough at this point.

My browser split open when I was just starting out in 2016 and I got this coding challenge from Google that could've led to a job interview.

One problem, I got it on a flight to Maui and when I landed I had to choose between the coding challenge or exploring Maui. I picked Maui, right decision at the time.

But, I applied to YC and I've been working 10-12 hours a day on my MVP. I've been having VERY DEEP conversations with chatGPT Plus and moving mountains with Cursor Pro. So I started to realize that Google must've sensed I have the mind of a software engineer even though I see myself as a 'creative developer' (a designer able to write code when needed).

Anyways, I need to go to sleep but had to ask this before I forgot.

I asked Perplexity the first question and this is what I got. Now I'm curious how it compares to the HN community's real-life wisdom.

------------------------------------------------------- Main Reasons Startups Fail Within the First Five Years

Startups face a high failure rate in their first five years, with up to 70% not surviving this period. The most common reasons for these failures are:

• Lack of Product-Market Fit: The leading cause, with 34% of startups failing because their product or service does not meet a real market need.

• Cash Flow Problems/Running Out of Cash: About 16% of failures are due to running out of money or poor cash flow management.

• Poor Marketing or Lack of Market Demand: 22% of failed startups did not implement effective marketing strategies or failed to generate enough demand for their product.

• Team and Human Resource Issues: 18% of startups fail due to team problems, such as not hiring the right people or internal conflict.

• No Clear or Flawed Business Model: Many startups lack a sustainable business model or fail to plan for profitability.

• Failure to Adapt or Mismanagement of Growth: Not adapting to market changes or scaling too quickly without proper planning can lead to failure.

• Lack of Focus: Losing focus on core objectives and getting distracted by too many initiatives is a common pitfall.

• Operational and Legal Issues: Some startups fail due to operational inefficiencies, legal problems, or poor record-keeping.

These reasons often overlap, and failure is usually the result of several factors rather than a single issue. Addressing these core challenges is critical for startups aiming to survive and thrive beyond the five-year mark.

I'm a solo founder. Lived on Maui during the pandemic and a little after the fire to work at Red Cross. I got a job offer at a five-star resort as a concierge on Kauai and free housing at a very interesting farm-to-table operation, so I moved there.

I got invited to Idaho to work at a non-profit conservation project that is aligned with my startup. Our funding was cut by DOGE and Trump a few weeks ago, so I had to pivot.

I decided I'll just go for it and apply to YC with what I have and with my story. I've tied everything together as fast as I can but I don't have much beyond a vision, a plan, a business model canvas, a few screenshots to show how the app works.

I have a script for cold emails that I will send out while I wait to hear back. My other option is something like KickStarter or just bootstrap somehow with the help of an angel investor.

I've never raised money before, so this is all uncharted terrain for me.

Thanks for sharing any insight or encouragement. :)

I've started to tinker with all the big LLMs, I am at once fascinated and terrified at how fast things are changing. I am tying together the final pieces of my YC app after the funding for the non-profit I work at got cut by DOGE and Trump. A blessing in disguise is how I choose to look at it. Just like the Maui fires that nearly killed my drive to want to try any more. Here I am, trying once more!

I'm finding joy in just attempting something audacious for the benefit of the whole biosphere. I'm learning a lot EVERY DAY.

I've been reading about this a lot lately and am in the process of applying to YC. I am a creative and technical founder with experience in sales too. I am best with design and sales but have enough engineering acumen to have ticked off Google's algorithm and recieved the 'foobar challenge' when I was 26.

I don't see myself ever becoming a senior level engineer anywhere but I do feel confident that I could manage a startup working closely with a few of them. They would benefit greatly financially by me doing what I am best at. As the saying goes 'A-level players like to play with A-level players'.

AI is fascinating for sure but there are some major red flags as well. The main one being Suchin Balaji mysteriously dying right after becoming a whistleblower. I am looking at this question from all angles and leaving no stone unturned.

This is an ethical question as much as a technical one.

I was born in 1990. Got my first computer in 1995 and wrote my first line of code in the year 2000 in Visual Basic. I discovered the startup world after watching Steve Job's commencement speech and not long after Hacker News became a daily read with my coffee.

I am 35 now and live in Kauai (moved here after the Maui fires). I am a 'creative developer' with an agency where I help good people doing good work make great impact. It's a solo operation because I wear multiple hats and am starting to leverage AI to do more faster.

I am thinking about applying to YC with an app I building. I am a solo founder but will definitely find a co-founder one way or another. I am starting to get the feeling that AI is getting so good that if I focus on designing, marketing, and sales with enough understanding of product development, all I would really need is a small team of engineers (with equity) to make sure everything is functional, secure, and scalable.

Am I oversimplifying this or missing something? I believe what I am building is very unique, has great potential, solve real problems for the entire biosphere, and FEELS GOOD as a brand, a way of life. It would challenge the current paradigm to think bigger and feel deeper about many things.